WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has accepted
the resignation of Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, 76, from the pastoral governance
of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona.
Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger, up until now Bishop of Salina, Kansas,
has been named as the new bishop for the diocese.

The appointment was publicized in
Washington on October 3 by Msgr. Walter Erbi, Chargé d'Affaires at the
Apostolic Nunciature in the United States.

Bishop Weisenburger was born in
Alton, Illinois on December 23, 1960. He
pursued seminary studies at the American College Seminary at the Catholic
University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium where he earned a bachelor of Sacred Theology
degree along with both a masters in Religious Studies in 1986 and Moral and
Religious Science in 1987.

Bishop Weisenburger was ordained a
priest in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City on December 19, 1987. He later earned his pontifical J.C.L. degree
from the University of St. Paul in Ottawa, Canada (1992). Upon returning to the archdiocese, he was
appointed vice-chancellor and adjutant judicial vicar.

In addition to chancery duties, he worked
in parish and prison ministries from 1992-1995 and served as the on-site chaplain
for rescue workers following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In 1996, he was appointed Vicar General of
the archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He remained
with the Oklahoma City Tribunal for almost 20 years and served in various
capacities including Promoter of Justice for the cause of canonization of
Stanley Francis Rother, Servant of God. He
served as pastor of Holy Trinity parish in Okarche, Oklahoma (1995-2002) and as
pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (2002-2012). On February 6, 2012, he was appointed Bishop
of Salina by Pope Benedict XVI and was ordained on May 1, 2012.

Bishop Kicanas was born August 18,
1941 in Chicago, Illinois. He was
ordained a priest on April 27, 1967 and served in various capacities in the
seminary system of the Archdiocese of Chicago for 25 years. In 1984, he was appointed Rector of Mundelein
Seminary and held seminary postings that included rector, principal, and dean
of formation at the former Quigley Seminary South.

Bishop Kicanas is the former Vice
President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and former
Secretary of the USCCB. He currently
serves on the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, Committee
on Communications, the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, Subcommittee on
Hispanic Affairs (consultant), and he is a member of the Catholic Legal
Immigration Network Inc, (CLINIC).

He is also the former Chair of the
Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services and has chaired and served on numerous
USCCB committees.

Bishop Kicanas was
named coadjutor bishop of Tucson on October 30, 2001, and was installed on
January 15, 2002. He became the seventh
Bishop of Tucson on March 7, 2003.

The diocese of Tucson comprises 42,707
square miles of the southern part of Arizona.
It has a population of 1,904,477 people of whom 390,418 or 20 percent are
Catholic.

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